Various games are played using playing cards, where a typical game may use one or more decks, which may have 52 cards of various values and suits. Other card games may use different numbers of cards, and some games may be played with multiple decks of cards. Examples of such games are poker, blackjack, bridge, canasta, preference, pinochle and the like. Players of such games have an interest in ensuring that the playing cards are dispensed for the playing of a game in a random manner, giving no one player an unfair advantage. Preparing a deck of cards may be accomplished either manually or automatically. In the case of manual preparation, the cards may be cut, riffled and stripped. This process is generically termed “shuffling” the cards, and may be performed multiple times to prepare the deck. It is believed that performing a cut-riffle process approximately 7 times will result in a sufficiently random distribution of cards within a deck. However this is time consuming and, except in professional games, it is common to perform the shuffling process only 2-4 times. Various mechanical means of performing operations which may have the effect of randomizing the deck of cards are known. Such mechanical means may not replicate the actions of a dealer performing manual shuffling, or may be cumbersome to use and expensive, being typically intended for use in a casino.